Steven Pinker: a life in brawls

There’s an excellent interview with Steven Pinker on the BBC Radio 4 programmeThe Life Scientific that takes a look back at his work and his involvement with a long list of enjoyable controversies.

For those over-saturated with discussion about his new book on the decline of violence, The Life Scientific interview is actually a refreshing retrospective that reviews his career as a whole.

It tackles everything from the cognitive science of word learning to brawls over the influence of genetics on human behaviour (bonus segment: Oliver James making a tit of himself in a live radio debate).

A thoroughly engrossing discussion although if you want the podcast you’ll have to download it from a separate page (linked below) because linking to the podcast is a bit too advanced for the BBC.

Link to BBC Pinker interview and streaming audio.Link to podcasts of The Life Scientific interviews.